Ok, so this NEEDS to be stated.
Since this story deals with heaven and hell and all that, there will be some religious stuff.
Any religious stuff that goes on or is said in this story, DOES NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT MY OWN PERSONAL BELIEFS!
That's not to say I don't believe in any of what is said here, but just know that I'm not using this fic to try and pass along my own beliefs. For this fic, I just used what I believed would be the LEAST controversial things to believe in. Note, least controversial does not mean non-controversial. Almost nothing is non-controversial nowadays and that is especially the case with religion.
So if you disagree with any of the religious elements here, don't attack me for it, it's just a part of the story.
Izuku stood in front of Mizu's house. Just standing a few feet away from her door.
I am a demon lord. Who killed and absorbed the previous demon lord who was thousands, maybe tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of years old. With enough power to make the heroes look like jokes. I can make even All Might fall...and yet here I am. Afraid to see a little girl. Izuku thought to himself with a sigh.
He had abandoned a girl who already had abandonment issues. And now he was coming back to her after months.
Oh, and also he brought back Overhaul, her abuser who did unspeakable things to her, from hell, and into the world of the living.
How the hell was he gonna explain all of this?
Of course, he didn't bring Overhaul with him. He was currently doing something for Izuku at a different location.
Unfortunately for Izuku, demon lord or not, he still had a tendency to zone out, and the door opened without him realizing it.
"You do know that if you stand at someone's front door for long enough, they will notice right?" Mizu deadpanned.
"AH!" Izuku jumped back. "Ms. Izumi...you scared me."
"Am I the one you're really afraid of?" Mizu asked him, getting right down to business.
Izuku paused, before giving Mizu a hesitant look. "No...How has she been?"
"Terrible." Mizu looked down at the floor with a saddened expression. "She's gotten better since you first left her here. Kota's been treating her well, I'm hesitant to call them friends but they're something like that. But she misses you...she's been waiting for you to come back."
Mizu moved to the side, allowing him to enter inside. "She's upstairs. Two rooms down. Go. We can talk later."
He hesitated, but after a few moments, he nodded and entered the house.
Izuku moved slowly through the house, and towards the stairs. Wondering what exactly he was going to say to her.
He couldn't come up with anything.
Normally when his brain was being unproductive, it was just a bunch of jumbled thoughts, stopping and starting before they could lead anywhere helpful.
But this time. It was just nothing.
He couldn't even start to think of a single sentence to say to Eri when he saw her.
And then suddenly, he was in front of the door.
It felt like it happened too quickly, even though in reality he had been walking really slowly, but to Izuku it felt like he opened a portal there.
He took a deep breath. With no productive thoughts, he realized that at this point, the best thing to do was just to go in, and hope for the best.
So he opened the door and entered the room.
Inside was a guest room. Or at least it WAS a guest room. There were some small decorations that indicated that this room was Eri's.
And by decorations, he meant Ghost Rider merch. Posters, figures, etc.
Well, at least she doesn't hate me? Izuku thought hopefully.
Eri herself was sitting in the center of the room. Sitting on the floor, watching the news.
Now that struck him as odd. Why would a little girl be watching the news?
And then it came to him.
She was looking for him.
Well if the merch didn't tell him how much she wanted him back, that did, and that realization felt like a knife in the back.
Although at this point emotional pain was way worse than physical pain for him, so that comparison wasn't really accurate, but it was the best he could come up with.
So Izuku just stood there. Looking at her. Not sure at all how to approach her.
And then he felt someone push him inside.
He turned his head, and it was Mizu, who had pushed him, but he didn't have time to say anything to her about it, because the push had caused him to stumble into the room, altering Eri to his presence.
And when he turned his head back towards her, she was staring at him with teary, disbelieving eyes.
"H-Hi Eri." Izuku stuttered nervously. "I came back."
He didn't have time to utter another word, as Eri made a mad dash towards him, almost tripping over herself as she ran into his legs and hugged him.
"Please don't leave again! I'll be good I promise!" Eri burst into tears, tightly hugging his legs while begging him to stay.
Izuku could feel his heart breaking, and he quickly kneeled down and brought her into a hug. "Oh, Eri. It's not your fault. It's not your fault."
Mizu watched from the doorway, as the two reconciled, and hugged it out for quite some time.
Three Hours Later
After Eri and Izuku had cried their eyes out, Mizu and Izuku decided to sit down over a table, and talk.
Although Eri was still latched onto Izuku. Sitting on his lap and holding his shirt with a death grip.
Kota was at school currently, and so it was just the three of them.
"So...where exactly have you been?" Was Mizu's first question. The first of many. "No one has heard from you for months, and not only is it not easy for people with high profiles like yours to just go unnoticed for so long, you also don't strike me as the kind of person who can lay low very well."
"Well...After I left, I needed some time to think, without anyone interfering, so I...went underground...literally." Izuku explained.
Mizu raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean like in a bunker or something?"
"No, no. I literally dug a big, deep hole in the ground, got in it, pushed the dirt back on top of me, and stayed there for a few months." Izuku explained more clearly.
Mizu gave him a "are you serious look" as she tried to figure out if he was joking or not.
After determining that he must be serious she sighed. "I have so many questions about how that would even work. But I'm going to guess all of them are answered by, my quirk makes me immune to that."
"Kinda." Izuku really didn't have a quirk but he would ease his way into the whole demon lord thing.
"But what I am guessing is that your quirk didn't protect your sanity. Seriously, why would you do that to yourself!" Mizu scolded him.
"That sounds lonely," Eri commented, hugging Izuku a bit tighter.
"Well, it was a bit lonely." Izuku started petting her hair to calm her. "But I needed to do that. Because now, I'm free!"
"Free?" Mizu was confused, but judging by the happy tone Izuku had, either this was a very good thing, or Izuku had completely lost it down there.
"Yup! No more senseless murder sprees! I've finally gained full control over my powers!" Izuku revealed cheerfully.
"Really?" Eri asked him with wide eyes.
Izuku nodded, smiling at her. "Really."
"Oh." Mizu felt like this should have good news. However, as a pro hero, she knew that things in life were rarely this easy. Not to mention. Izuku was acting odd. Still, she would hold out hope for now.
"So you don't have to leave anymore!" Eri asked him with big hopeful eyes.
"Nope. I get to stay with you." Izuku brought her into a tight, one-armed hug. "Although, I will still have to go out to see my sister and...well…"
Oh, Mizu didn't like that. She didn't like that at all.
"What else would you be doing...exactly?" Mizu asked him.
"Ok...so. I...am a demon lord." Izuku tried to find the best way to explain his situation, but he knew it was gonna be a tough sell. "And before you say anything! Let me explain! You see, I tried to make a deal with a demon lord called Mephisto, to keep my mom from dying of cancer in return for my soul. This was about as stupid as it sounds, and he tricked me. Instead of my mom dying from cancer she just died of a heart attack. He also took me to purgatory so that way I could see that he tricked me before he took me to hell. However, there was another demon lord trapped in purgatory called Zarathos, that merged itself with my soul and revived me to escape. That's how I survived my suicide and how I got so powerful. However, Zarathos wanted me to destroy the wicked and eat their souls to trap them in his own personal hell territory that's inside our stomach, which is why I went on all those rampages. He was also trying to trick me into accepting it and not resisting. So after I dug myself into the ground from all that time I learned how to get rid of Zarathos, kind of, by merging our two consciousnesses together and absorbing him into myself. And now that I know hell is real and that people damned there are stuck in eternal torment, I want to stop people from going to hell by forcing them to repent, and save every soul in hell by conquering it."
Now, after an explanation like that, one would be forgiven for thinking Izuku was crazy.
So Izuku forgave her for thinking that he was crazy.
She didn't say anything but Izuku could tell by the look she was giving him that she thought he was a raving lunatic.
Eri seemed to be in deep thought, but she didn't seem to think he was crazy, so that's good.
"Ok, I know I asked you to accept a lot. But think about it. Does anything about my quirk make sense?" Izuku asked her, imploring her not to throw the idea away. "Just try and think about it. What makes more sense. That my powers are demon based or quirk based?"
The answer was neither. Neither one made any sense.
But if Mizu had to think about it more. Perhaps the whole, demons and hell thing wasn't so crazy.
Because if you looked at it, there really was no proof that hell wasn't real. In fact, billions of people throughout history, and tens of thousands of people today, thought it was. The only real proof against Izuku's claims is that they sounded absurd.
But if someone from today went back in time to before quirks, and told them that there would be a time when almost everyone has superpowers, it would likely sound just as silly.
Heck, taking it back even further, if you went back to ancient times and told people about airplanes and cell phones they would either think you were a drunk or a witch.
If anything Izuku's existence added more proof of hell being real than they had against it. Because really Izuku's "quirk" didn't follow the known rules of quirks, at all. To the point where it would make sense for it to not be a quirk.
Although even accepting that hell was real, that was a lot just to take in.
"Ok...let's just say...I accept the whole, hell, and demons thing. You're telling me, you plan on redeeming...every sinner, that lives, that will ever live, and that has lived." Mizu broke down Izuku's insane plan. "Is that what I'm hearing?"
"Yeah I know it sounds insane. But, I am immortal, and I can bring back the dead. So...I'll get it done eventually. It's just going to take a long, long time." Izuku reasoned.
Mizu looked like her eyes were going to explode out of her head with how wide they became. "I'm...I'm sorry...did you just say...you could bring back the dead!?"
Izuku's eyes also widened, as he realized what he just said, and what it could imply. "Wait, wait, wait! Before you get any ideas! Yes, I can bring back the dead, but I can only bring back people who are under my domain. Which right now is just the people that I killed, but once I've conquered hell, then I will be able to resurrect any sinner that has ever died. But only sinners. I can't touch people who go to heaven."
"I...this is a lot." Mizu could barely comprehend what Izuku was telling her at this point. Not because it was confusing just because it was so...much.
"I understand. Maybe just, think of it like this. I am going to find bad people. And hurt them very badly, until they stop being bad people." Izuku explained as simply as he could.
Mizu didn't appreciate being talked to like a child. But also she kinda needed it to be simplified.
Eri nodded, still not saying anything.
"Ok...so I'm just gonna kind of...accept all that for now," Mizu said. "But...I need you to tell me what makes a sinner exactly...because according to Christianity, there are a lot of things that can be considered sins, that I should definitely not be considered as such."
"Oh, that. Yeah, the thing about religion is...well have you heard the phrase, believe in God but question the teachings of man? Well, it's that. People have mucked up religion to a ridiculous degree, corrupting it to gain power or to enforce their own opinions and views upon everyone else." Izuku explained with a look of disgust. "I could go on about what could get you into hell and what wouldn't, but overall it's pretty simple. Don't harm innocent people...that's it really."
"Wait what?" Mizu wasn't sure if that should be shocking or not. "That's it? That's all you have to do."
"Yeah. Don't hurt anyone unless it's in self-defense of yourself or another, don't steal from anyone, don't be cruel to others, Just don't be a jerk." Izuku shrugged. "Funny thing, God does not care about social norms. Humans made those for the most part, and why would God adhere to the made-up laws of men? There are a lot of things that you can do that are VERY illegal, and in my opinion, wrong, that aren't considered sins. As far as God is concerned, just live a good life, and be a good person. You can make a few mistakes along the way, and if you make too many mistakes then you'll need to repent, which involves genuinely being sorry for what you've done. It's pretty easy overall, which makes sense because the consequence for failing these requirements is eternal pain and suffering. Unfortunately, a lot of people have been led astray by corrupt religious leaders and biased religious texts."
"Wait so all the people that got misled into believing all that B.S. go to hell too?" Mizu had only seen those kinds of overzealous religious mobs in movies. From what she remembered they were depicted as stupid heartless sheeple, that were pretty terrifying to be around. Still, most of them were probably just terrified of eternal damnation or were desperate to get into heaven because their lives were awful.
"Well not necessarily. If you, for example, believed that you had to go to church every Sunday or you would go to hell. That's fine. If you burnt a woman because you thought she was a witch. That's not fine." Izuku explained. "God doesn't really care what you believe, just be cool."
"I mean that makes sense...it's just...everyone's been killing each other over this crap for thousands of years when really that's the opposite of what they should be doing," Mizu said. "How are you so sure about all of this?"
"I absorbed Zarathos, and became a demon lord of hell, who can literally see people's sins and is in charge of eating the souls of sinners," Izuku explained. "So I'm pretty sure I know who is and who isn't a sinner."
"That's...fair." Mizu was hesitant to say that, as she was still hesitant to believe the whole demon lord thing. "But all this still leaves me with one question. Do you really think you can force every single sinner to repent for their actions? Will torture be enough to do that?"
Izuku suddenly looked nervous. "Well...I'm testing that right now. I picked up a few sinners from here and there, and...ok. So. Remember when I said I needed to combine my consciousness with Zarathos?"
Mizu nodded but looked confused. What did this have to do with her question?
"Well...inside of me is my realm of hell. My domain, think of it as a pocket dimension inside my stomach, and it's where all the souls of the sinners I killed go after I killed them." Izuku explained. "And in there, my consciousness and Zarathos's consciousness could exist separately as separate beings. We couldn't kill each other because we shared a soul, but we could interact in pretty much any other way. However, I didn't have the power to merge our consciousnesses. For that, I needed someone that I killed, with the ability to take things apart on a molecular level, and put it back together differently."
It was then Eri's eyes widened with terror. "O-O-Ov-Overhaul!"
Izuku cringed as Eri started shaking, but quickly embraced her. "Hey don't worry, he can't hurt you. He can't hurt you."
After a few minutes of hugging, Eri eventually calmed down, and Izuku started to explain himself.
"I had to use Overhaul's abilities to get rid of Zarathos...and I may have had to make a deal with him to let him get out of hell early." Izuku saw the pure panic and fear on Eri's face and quickly went to reassure her. "But he still can't hurt you! It's part of the deal. He is physically incapable of hurting you!"
Eri still looked afraid, but she seemed to trust Izuku's words. "A-Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure." Izuku nodded, trying to look as confident as possible. "And I don't even think he'd want to. You see, after burning in the pits of hell for a while, Overhaul has had a change of heart due to his lack of wanting to go back there."
Mizu was of two minds about that, and her expression showed this. On one hand, Overhaul was a bastard who, in her opinion, deserved pain and suffering. On the other hand, she really shouldn't be surprised by this, as Izuku basically just said that he would be releasing the damned from hell to try and redeem them, and she agreed that eternal damnation was a bit excessive...but maybe he could have spent a bit longer in the oven.
Also, Izuku could make demonic deals, but Mizu would just keep quiet about that for now.
"But I did manage to screw him over a bit with the deal," Izuku smirked.
"Oh? Didn't think you were the type?" Mizu pointed out. "What did you do?"
"I gave him the body of a little girl," Izuku explained, with a bit of pride. "I thought that was a fitting punishment."
Eri froze. This time not out of fear. But out of confusion and disbelief. As if that was the most insane thing Izuku had said.
She tried to imagine Overhaul as a little girl like her and she just...couldn't. It's just...no. She couldn't picture it.
For once her life Eri almost wanted to see Overhaul, just to see what Lolihaul would look like.
But then she remembered what Overhaul was like and that she would rather stay away from him/her for the rest of her life.
Mizu on the other hand was again of two minds about this. On one hand, that sounded hilarious, and on the other hand, "Where did you get a little girl's body to put him in?"
"I made it." Izuku shrugged. "Turns out when demons make deals they get this kind of...power, to do things they normally wouldn't be able to. Like that."
"Ok...wait...what does any of this have to do with what I asked earlier," Mizu asked.
"Oh, well I'm having Overhaul...experiments on some sinners I captured," Izuku explained. "I'm seeing what exactly causes people to repent the fastest, and what methods are most effective and efficient. I'm gonna need to do this a lot so I need to do this quickly."
Izuku looked at Mizu, giving her a sad, but understanding look.
"I understand that what I'm doing...it's a bit hard to stomach," Izuku admitted. "And...I understand if you don't want to have me around anymore."
"No, it's fine," Mizu told him quickly, so quickly it surprised Izuku.
"Wait….just like that?!" Izuku was taken aback by how well she was accepting this. "You understand I'm...torturing people right?"
"Eh. It sounds like you're doing them a favor. I see it in one of two ways. One, hell is real, and you're doing them a HUGE favor by keeping them from literally eternal damnation. Or, your crazy, hell isn't real, and your torturing villains into being better people. Either way, don't really care all too much." Mizu told him. "And I owe you for making sure my son wasn't an orphan. So yes. You can stay."
"Please stay!" Eri begged him, her eyes getting teary again.
Izuku looked at Mizu, before looking down at Eri and smiling. "Of course, I'll stay."
Okay, and that's the end of this chapter. Now Izuku has a place to stay. If you're wondering, Overhaul is at an old Yakuza location. We'll see more with them in the next chapter.
Anyway, have a nice day.